2013 Livestock Posts

#Farming Bites: a new way to learn. Watching these sections of the Discovering Our Countryside programs will show the seasonal tasks and changes of plants and crops. This will give your pupils small regular video bites of learning gradually building up their knowledge of science units such as: 1b Growing , 2b Plants and animals, 2c Variation, 3b Plants Grow Well, 5b Life Cycles and Design Technology units such as: 1c Eat More Fruit and Veg, 5b Bread, 5d Biscuits Learning will be just like growing up with the farm yard and countryside in your classroom

2 December 2013 – Preparing for Winter

Livestock over Winter – Some animals are seasonal breeders only mating at certain times of year, like sheep in Autumn, others like pigs will breed all year round.

11 November 2013 – Managing the seasons

Dressing a Lambs carcass. – Shows how your local butcher dresses or butchers a lambs carcass for you to enjoy your favourite cuts of lamb such as chops, leg or shoulder of lamb.

21 October 2013 – The ABC of Farming

The Poo Cycle. How farm livestock re-cycle the products of harvest. This shows how livestock eat the products of harvest and produce manure for the farming to re-cycle by using on the crops he grows.

7 October 2013 – Preparing for Winter

Livestock farmers preparing for Winter. – Shows how livestock farmers started their preparation for winter back in the summer by preserving grass to feed over the winter.

23 September 2013 – Using the products of harvest

Using the products of harvest for livestock – Shows how we use cereals to feed livestock

8 July 2013 – Summer Crops, Dairy Products Things to do over Summer…

Dairy Products– Shows milk being processed to produce cream for your Wimbledon Strawberries and then bottled as either Whole, Skimmed or semi-skimmed milk. Also explains why milk is an excellent drink for athletes or after any exercise

Download teachers notes for this section –

24 June 2013 – Hedgerow Feasts, Cow’s Stomach feasts, Tasty feasts.

Cow’s stomach feasts – We look at how ruminants rely of micro-beasts in their 4 stomachs to help them digest grass making them very important to food production as this allows us to produce food from land we would not otherwise be able to use.

Grass at Last – We revisit the lambs we saw turned out after lambing and we see our calves getting their first taste of fresh grass

Download teachers notes for this section –

13 May 2013 – Green Green Plants of May

Pigs for bacon – The pigs we have followed from farrowing are weighed to see if they are ready for bacon. We also follow a local butcher as he explains how a pig carcass in butchered into the various pork and bacon cuts

Lambing – Follow lambing on Oliver’s Farm where we see lots of new born lambs and the work involved in looking after all these new lives, which involves both experienced shepherds and fresh, enthusiastic young shepherds.

Download teachers notes for this section –

15 April 2013 – Spring, late, but work goes on…..

Calving – We finally manage to capture some cows calving on film – full graphic details so beware! We show how soon a newborn calf is up and suckling it’s mother’s milk and also how the farmer’s jobs and responsibilities for this calf start from day 1

Download 15 April 2013 teachers notes

18 March 2013 – The Ides of March are upon us!

Secret Calves and lambs? – Explains how we have so far been unsuccessful in catching calves being born on film, but how we are more confident of catching lambs being born as our farmer has 2000 ewes to lamb. We see these ewes being brought inside, fed and vaccinated in preparation for lambing.

4 March 2013 – Weather good or bad?

The weather can kill! – This follows our newborn piglets through to weaning, looking at what different systems are available for rearing pigs and how the UK pig herd has some of the highest welfare standards in the world – which we should be supporting if we believe in animal welfare.

18 February 2013 – New life, follow it and even help!

Preparing for Calving and Sows Farrowing – Shows a farmer fetching in his cattle ready for calving in the spring, Then goes on to show how piglets are born all year round. With footage of piglets actually being born.

28 January 2013 – Beyond the Farm; Milk

Milk beyond the farm – Shows that the safety of this important foodstuff starts with storage on the farm and then shows how it is treated to keep it safe to consume and then how it is packed into the cartons of liquid milk you buy as a consumer.

14 January 2013 – Computers in Agriculture + Year in a Wood

Farm Animals and Computers – Shows how computers are used to monitor pigs feeding during pregnancy and also how they are used to help farmers weigh ingredients so they can mix the correct food ingredients for cattle. It also shows how even milking cows and goats is helped by the use of computer to monitor how much milk is produced.